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REMEMBERING WITH FONDNESS

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Old, broken, sad, alone
Looking up, still  some hope
To find a friend, a home
Beauty, it is  ...
 
To live without  fear
To mend a life (maybe two)
The magic  presence
Beauty, it  is...
 
A time when home is love
Where life is  joyous
and longer than  believed
Beauty, it  is...

He was a pauper
Who became a prince
My beloved SIR  SPENCER
 
Gotcha : November 2, 2001

At peace : April 3, 2006
 
What beauty  is ...
 
Ken Florky

Dear Ken,

Beauty, indeed. We can’t help but smile a little as we think about how lucky Spencer was to find you, but our hearts ache for your loss as well.

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Dear GRRI-NJ,

Please accept a donation in memory of our boy, Noah.

We were very happy to find your website. Keep up the Golden work !!!

Sincerely,

Donna, Bill and Cait Kiely

Dear Kielys,

We appreciate your generous donation in memory of Noah. What a beautiful dog! Along with your many memories of him, we hope the knowledge that we’ll be helping the next generation of Goldens in his honor will ease the pain of his loss.

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Dear GRRI,
 
My husband and I will remember March 23, 2006 because this is the day that we said goodbye to our Princess Lacey. We adopted Lacey through GRRI on October 15, 2003 with the help of her foster Mom, Carolyn.  It seems so long ago because in our hearts Lacey had been with us forever.  We helped celebrate Lacey's 14th year of life on March 6, sang Happy Birthday and gave both her and her brother Toby vanilla ice cream.  She loved it!  Every holiday, and every chance we could we made that day for Lacey special, because we never knew when that final day would come.  Sometimes I think Lacey enjoyed herself no matter what she did because she too never knew if tomorrow would come.

Unfortunately that day came, and it wasn't easy. We still can't believe that she is no longer with us physically, but her memories will live with us for always.  We thank GRRI for making it possible to adopt Lacey and Carolyn for being her foster Mom.  Without the combined effort of all we would never have had the pleasure of Lacey sharing her final years with us.  All it took was a chance meeting and she melted our hearts.  Again thank you for Lacey and for all that you do for the Goldens.

Lacey will surely be missed.

Sincerely,

John and Chris Meyer

Dear Chris and John,

We’re so sorry for your loss of Lacey.  How wonderful that even as she entered her “golden” years, she found you both and enjoyed her last years absolutely sure of your love and affection for her. We wish you could have enjoyed even more time with her, but know that she made her last years with you cherished.  She won’t be forgotten, and we hope that your many memories ease your pain. Our thoughts are with you.

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Dear GRRI,

In January 2001, my family adopted Ginger and Hershey, two adult Golden Retrievers whose other family had a child with terrible asthma, from  GRRI-NJ. Finding that their dogs were spending too much time in the yard  and their daughter too much time in the emergency room, they decided to put  the dogs up for adoption. My husband, son and I picked up Ginger and Hershey on a cold January morning. We were sad to be taking the dogs from the house--there were three other children in the home who were in tears--but so happy to be taking our new pets home.

They both were great dogs, but I fell hard for Ginger, who was a little over 4 years old. (Hershey is now 12 1/2 and doing fine since his spleen was removed in January.) As her previous owner said, Ginger could find an infinite number of ways to play with a ball. We had a pool in our yard, which she loved. She would lie on the pool deck and nudge a tennis ball into the water with her nose, watch it bob on the pool surface until it floated away just a bit and then stand up, put her paw in the water and try to drag the ball back into her reach. After some practice she could almost always bring the ball back, but if she let it get out too far she had to jump in and fetch it.

Ginger always wanted to be with her people: She and my son played in the yard, she sat at my feet as I cooked, hopeful that some tasty bit would come her way, sniffed in the garden as I dug, lay by the couch when I read, slept next to me when my husband traveled. A look and crooking one finger would bring her to me. She loved to run off leash along the canal: We'd walk the quarter mile or so to the canal (past the wetlands which made her smell like a swamp if she got into the water) and she'd bound into the water as soon as her leash was off. One winter, when we could ice skate on the canal she discovered the pleasure of sliding on ice--she ran right out onto the ice and then slid until she stopped, only to walk back off the ice and do it all over again.

She learned things so quickly. A year ago I found a lump on her tail, which required that all but about 5 inches of her tail be removed. The  Elizabethan collar proved no match for Ginger, who discovered that she could  practically bend in half while lying on her back in order to get to the tail. What a mess it became--we finally resorted to a mop bucket to help her tail heal. When the bucket came off she chased her tail endlessly; it was driving her crazy and I didn't know what to do. But, since she liked to be with us so much I decided that behavior modification might work. So one evening, everytime she started to chase her tail I would say in a firm voice, "Ginger, outside?" and when she didn't stop chasing her tail I put her out for a couple of minutes. We repeated the exercise about 8 times that evening and stopped when she started to get it. The next night I put her out only three or four times and her tail chasing habit was almost broken. Of course, then I had to figure out what to do when we were outside, and she chased her tail!

We put Ginger to sleep a few days ago; she had a brain tumor that was quickly overtaking her. She was a wonderful, wonderful pet who enriched our lives.

Karen Walker

Dear Karen, 

Thank you for writing and sharing the news of Ginger’s passing.  Goldens are known for being bright, and Ginger sounds as if she was true to the breed – what a smart dog! You say that you “fell hard” for her, and it is clear that she felt the same for you. The life you’ve described – from the walks on the canal to playing by the pool to just being with you in the quiet moments of everyday life – is everything we hope for when we match a Golden with an adopter. Thank you for being there when Ginger and Hershey needed you; may your many fond memories of Ginger sustain you and your family at this difficult time.

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Dear GRRI,

I had to have the Miracle Red Rose, love of my life and soul mate, put down today. We have had a rough three weeks with everything going wrong all at once. We were at the vet's office almost on a daily basis. Finally, Rose stopped eating, could not get up even the two steps from the back yard into the house. She let me know it was time. Thus, she died in my arms this am. I told her how much she meant to so many, how dearly she was loved, how much she would be missed, how much she taught me and others what love was all about. She taught me about courage, fun and what trust was.
 
A poem will arrive when my emotions, tears, etc get under control.

I thank you all for allowing me to adopt this amazing dog. I only had her a bit over two years, however, it was two plus years of the best for her, for me and for all the other lives that Rosie touched.

Adele Hood

Rosie
October 1991 to January 2006

In the beginning, some unpacking to do
While carefully unpacking we learned the new

Slowly the bad stuff went away
Rosie and I began to play

Her love of life, her determination
I soon knew this girl was a real sensation

Her beautiful eyes always showed me
What direction to take, what was the key

She showed one and all what life was about
Never go around with your face in a pout

The gentleness of a lamb, the courage of a lion
The little red Rose kept us all flying

The little red Rose loved to go
Canines and man loved her so

How she trusted, is beyond me
Yet her trust of all was as deep as the sea

Her tail would start wagging the minute she knew
A therapy visit she was going to do

She brought love and light to everyone
Her forty seven visits were such fun

She changed tears into smiles, she brought laughter and fun
The little red Rose was never done

It was only four months and two years
My eyes are still crying many tears

She was so amazing, she was my soul mate
I had to let her go, it was our fate

When food was not wanted and the look in her eye
I knew at the moment we must say good-bye

Just look in the sky at the brightest star
The miracle red Rose is not very far

Adele Hood

Note from Adele:
I do want to thank all of you at GRRI for this once in a lifetime dog. Rosie touched the hearts of so many -- children, all the family, neighbors, friends, everyone she met on our therapy visits, everyone she met where ever we went and that includes all the stores we visited, the bank, the gas station, etc. Rosie also was loved by all her canine friends. What an amazing little girl. I love her so, I admired her so -- to be what she was after all she had gone through.

Theresa said it best -- Rosie was a Saint in fur clothing.

Dear Adele, 

Your words of remembrance of Rosie are beautiful. Surely you know that as much as you gained from having her in your life, she too enjoyed the security, warmth, and love of life with you.  Our thoughts are with you.

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Dear GRRI,

Please accept this gift to the Joann Smith Memorial Fund in loving memory of our special friend Bronwyn McFadden. She was truly an angel among us.  The earth is a sad place in her absence.

Donna and Nelson Baumer

Dear Donna and Nelson,
Thank you for choosing to remember Bronwyn with your generous donation. The Joann Smith Memorial Fund provides help to GRRI dogs with special needs, and your thoughtfulness will insure that other dogs will have the opportunity for the wonderful life that Bronwyn enjoyed.

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 To Whom It May Concern,

Please accept the enclosed donation in loving memory of William Francis Delaney. Bill lost his battle to esophageal cancer on 10/30/05 at the young age of 50. Bill was the owner of the American Canine Academy in Hawthorne, NJ.  

We took our beloved "Tristan" to Bill for training.  Tristan is a wonderful dog because of Bill.  Bill will be missed by many, both 4-legged and 2-legged.

Sincerely,

Jeanette, Ken and Tristan Price

Dear Jeanette, Ken and Tristan,
Many thanks for your donation in memory of Bill Delaney.  May your memories of him be brightened even further with the knowledge that GRRI dogs will benefit from your generosity.

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Spencer, beloved GRRI Golden of Joe DelGrippo


Brandy, beloved GRRI Golden of Katie & Michael Solondz


Bronwyn, beloved Golden of GRRI volunteers Eileen and Drew McFadden


Lucy, beloved cat of GRRI volunteers Michele Masone and Beth Corcoran


Dasher and Angel, beloved Dachsund and GRRI Golden of GRRI volunteer Janet Loprano


Boomer, beloved Golden of GRRI volunteer Jill McLaughlin


Scout, beloved Golden of GRRI volunteers Tom and Janice LaPeruta


Robert Brumell and GRRI Golden Count


Molson, beloved GRRI Golden of Mark & Chris Wakefoose

Lacey, beloved GRRI Golden of Christine and John Meyers
Max, beloved GRRI Golden of Deb & Kevin Lowy
Zoey, beloved GRRI Golden of Laura Maldonado
Romeo, beloved GRRI Golden of Barbara Turner
 

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